Well wasn't book one supposed to be the only book originally? So when they started writing new episodes I guess book one wasn't taken into account because it was supposed to be a short, standalone story.

Tailfox wrote:Well wasn't book one supposed to be the only book originally? So when they started writing new episodes I guess book one wasn't taken into account because it was supposed to be a short, standalone story.

True, but it is a curious season to just drop, one of the problems with season two was the fact that it de-evolved it's characters.

Tailfox wrote:
Well wasn't book one supposed to be the only book originally? So when they started writing new episodes I guess book one wasn't taken into account because it was supposed to be a short, standalone story.

This. Originally, there weren't any plans to expand beyond Book 1, as it was kind off the 'fourth' book to ATLA (Air, as to match with Water, Earth and Fire). But Book 2 was made with Books 3 and 4 already in mind so it makes sense that there's more continuity between them.

Still, there are some connections between Books 1 and 2. The most important is that the Equalist Revolution let to the United Republic changing its governement; dissolving the Council and electing its first President, which became Raiko. Thusfar, Raiko had appeared in both Book 2 and 3.
Second, there was the whole compound where Korra was isolated. Introduced in Book 1 as a measure to keep Korra safe. Book 2 explained that it was Tenzin and Tonraq's idea and it looks like Book 3 will finally explain the reason for it (the escaped criminals who were after Korra).
Also, Mako and Bolin's past with the Triple Threat Triad; mentioned in Book 1, it came back when Mako tried to hire them during Book 2. And finally, Asami taking over Future Industries is a direct consequence of her father being imprisoned for the events in Book 1.

I think we needed to see more aftermath of the Equalists themselves. Even with Amon and Sato gone, all those citizens didn't suddenly stop hating Benders. Most probably still have huge greivances with Benders consdering the Bending Gangs still exist and the events set-off by the end of Book 2 (vines, new airbenders, etc). Even without their leadership, most are still trained, armed and united to enough to reorganize and still be consdered a threat at least on the level of the Bending Gangs. Sure we know Raiko got elected in a timeskip to better represent Republic City's interests, but HOW did he set things right?

We know Equalists still exist since they appear in the video game which takes place in between Books 2 and 3. Also the creators wanted to revisit them in Book 2 but didn't have time. So hopefully the bit of disjoint between Book 1 and the rest if the series will be resolved.

FATE HAS INTERVENED wrote:
I think we needed to see more aftermath of the Equalists themselves. Even with Amon and Sato gone, all those citizens didn't suddenly stop hating Benders. Most probably still have huge greivances with Benders consdering the Bending Gangs still exist and the events set-off by the end of Book 2 (vines, new airbenders, etc). Even without their leadership, most are still trained, armed and united to enough to reorganize and still be consdered a threat at least on the level of the Bending Gangs. Sure we know Raiko got elected in a timeskip to better represent Republic City's interests, but HOW did he set things right?

True, they did kind of skip over that. Amon was discredited in the eyes of his followers when Korra exposed him as a waterbender. Essentially they defeated the bending-hating-organisation by playing on their hatred for benders. :')

The most probable reason is that without Amon's power to take bending away, the Equalists' goals became unreachable. The only other way to eliminate bending is by killing all the benders and not many people would sign up for that.
So concessions were made and a new government was created to better represent the people of the United Republic: a President native to the UR instead of a council made up of foreign representatives (sans Tenzin).

The point of Book One was to introduce Korra and the gang, learn what happened after the 100 Year War. Korra learns airbending, she entered the Avatar State. She saved Republic City from Amon. Bloodbending is still alive to this day. How benders are hated by most non-benders.

It's basically an introduction to the LOK. And from Season Two onwards, it is when it gets interesting.

Each book is a self-contained story, like the story arcs in ABC's Once Upon a Time. Bryan explained this back in 2011.[1]

"When we first starting talking to Nickelodeon about doing a new series in the ‘Avatar’ world, they asked if we could do shorter arcs—more like a show like ‘24’ where there’s a specific villain or challenge for that particular season".

GravityQueen wrote:
The point of Book One was to introduce Korra and the gang, learn what happened after the 100 Year War. Korra learns airbending, she entered the Avatar State. She saved Republic City from Amon. Bloodbending is still alive to this day. How benders are hated by most non-benders.

It's basically an introduction to the LOK. And from Season Two onwards, it is when it gets interesting.

This is probably the best answer. Even if a lot of stuff in Book 2 could have served as introduction on its own, not all of it could, some of it needs more explanation than what Book 2 gives us. Book 1 has Korra coming to Republic City, giving us a detailed look at it, establishes her spiritual/airbending block, introduces the main cast...I would say that, even if you wanted to cut out everything that didn't carry over into Book 2, you would still have to make Book 2 a good 50% longer.

Then you have to ask the question, "Are we accounting for broadcast forces?" Because, if we are, we'd have to "round up" & make a full season, but Nick didn't want a full season at the start, making the point moot. If not, if you're just talking about what Plato would call "the world of ideas," then I guess you "could" change the script to make "Spirits" a full season, but you "could" do a lot of things. You "could" expand the Equalist conflict, for instance.

I'd also point out that the "simplest" way to do something isn't always the best way. You could conceivably have Asami's Equalist Glove appear with no explanation, but that would be weird, & also, the Equalist's new weapons showed us that technology was still developing.

The fact that the Equalists don't seems to have any presence in Book 2 (and probably Book 3) isn't really surprising, since Bending as a whole became a lot more important in LoK than it was in ATLA. In the latter, it was more a question of various nations uniting against the Fire Nation, and some important characters weren't benders (I especially think of Hakoda here). But in LoK, the non-bender are either faceless enemies (the Equalists), imbecils manipulated by their "Champion", romance material (Asami), jerk and manipulator (Varrick and Raiko, to some extent) or simply non-existent. Just look at how Bumi become an airbender : he develop not as a powerful non-bender on his own, but only through this discovery of Airbending.

There is, after all, a reason for why we haven't heard anything about Sokka and Suki, while in Book one we saw Aang, Katara, Toph and even Zuko (through Iroh Jr.). It isn't necessarily a bad thing, even if I would like myself to see more of the non-benders doing something, but the trials of Korra are extremely differents from those that Aang had to face and, in a sense, even greater, and in those trials, non-benders are largely ineffective (in Books 2 and 3, the enemies are far too dangerous to be dealt with by any non-benders, save maybe the greatests chi blockers and warriors).

That's why Book One isn't has heavily tied to Book 2 than Book 2 is tied to Book 3 : Book 1 being meant to be a stand-alone, so most of its plot points can't really be tied to the main plotline of the following Books, which is how the world can adapt to great changes of spitiyual matter.

The Equalists do raise some interesting questions that never really got answered, which I guess is ok since this is a kids' show.

Bending is such an integral part of this universe. People name themselves after their bending elements. What does it mean to live in the Earth Kingdom with Earth people and not be connected with Earth in that way? There is a scene is season 1 where a non-bender tells Korra "You're our Avatar too," so I thought the show might explore that more, but I guess they have bigger fish to fry.

As the others said, they didn't know there would be a Book 2 when they were making it, and Book 2's plot was also sort of standalone save for some lasting effects because they didn't know there would be a Book 3, but Nick ordered Book 3 and 4 together so those two should have a connected story, I hope.

AvatarKatar wrote:
This might be odd to ask, but, what was the point of Book One?

Honestly, if you compare the impact of the events Season One had on Season Two verse Season Two's impact with Season Three, there's a big difference.

Yeah, I know that season one develops it's characters and that season two de-evolves them. But really, season one isn't needed.

All the character growth in season one was almost completely tossed away in season two.

Amon is only referenced twice, by name and later when Korra goes into that tree thing.

Book One, in the overall series, had no impact.

Amon, a great villain, made almost no impact even though he was an emotional and physical challenge to Korra.... Referenced twice, never referenced in Book Three.

Sure, some tech created during Book One is in Book Two, the planes and the mech-tanks, but those can be easily explained.

The only one you can argue about is Future Industries facing bankruptcy, but near the end of Book Two, Varrick saves it (What happened to him anyways?).

It's almost unneeded.

The creators talked to Nickelodeon about doing a made for tv movie for its fans after the hundred year war "Which is now the comic The Promise" But Nick didn't want that however they thought a 12 episode mini-series "After discussions" Became about the next Avatar and thought it would be cool. But with its huge success and etc... Somewhere during the airing of book 1... Nick 1st renewed it for a total twenty something episodes (Including the 1st 12) and then up to 52 (Also including the 1st 12. It was the creators already did,finished and aired the 12 episodes for Book 1 way before the renewal that they decided that split 52 episodes into 4 books each telling a standalone story. Hope this helps.

FATE HAS INTERVENED wrote:I think we needed to see more aftermath of the Equalists themselves. Even with Amon and Sato gone, all those citizens didn't suddenly stop hating Benders. Most probably still have huge greivances with Benders consdering the Bending Gangs still exist and the events set-off by the end of Book 2 (vines, new airbenders, etc). Even without their leadership, most are still trained, armed and united to enough to reorganize and still be consdered a threat at least on the level of the Bending Gangs. Sure we know Raiko got elected in a timeskip to better represent Republic City's interests, but HOW did he set things right?

We know Equalists still exist since they appear in the video game which takes place in between Books 2 and 3. Also the creators wanted to revisit them in Book 2 but didn't have time. So hopefully the bit of disjoint between Book 1 and the rest if the series will be resolved.

Some Non-benders didn't suddenly stop hating benders but now that Amon and the equalists are gone they can't do anything about it. They just have to deal with it. Sato, for example, hated benders since he lost his wife and that happened like 8 years ago(or more). He hated benders all that time but couldn't do anything. Same goes for all the other non-benders that supported the equalists. They didn't suddenly start hating benders when Amon appeared.

The creators made Book 1 to establish the economical background of the Avatar Universe seventy years later and to show the prejudice of nonbenders to benders. If they took out Book 1, we couldn't see the characters for who they were because they'd be introducing newer characters. If Korea didn't face Amon, she'd have nothing to fear only making her less of a challenge for Unalaq. AS far as the plot concerns which is probably what the discussion was made for, yes there was more of a connection between B2 and 3 than B1 and 2 because there didn't need to be such a connection. But in ATLA the second book established Azula and the foreword more than B1 and actually gave Aang a change to accept his role as the Avatar. That's what the first season of Korra did.

Looking back at the series now that we know how it ends, it seems the overarching theme was the break between the human and spirit worlds. Sort of like how the overarching theme of A:TLA is the break between the nations in the time since the Avatar disappeared. Book 1 may not fit the best, but you still have Korra struggling to learn airbending, the most spiritual of the four bending styles, and a revolt from non-benders, the least spiritually-attuned people in the world.

LoveWaffle wrote:Looking back at the series now that we know how it ends, it seems the overarching theme was the break between the human and spirit worlds. Sort of like how the overarching theme of A:TLA is the break between the nations in the time since the Avatar disappeared. Book 1 may not fit the best, but you still have Korra struggling to learn airbending, the most spiritual of the four bending styles, and a revolt from non-benders, the least spiritually-attuned people in the world.

How far into the depths of this site did you have to go to find this thread lol

LoveWaffle wrote:Looking back at the series now that we know how it ends, it seems the overarching theme was the break between the human and spirit worlds. Sort of like how the overarching theme of A:TLA is the break between the nations in the time since the Avatar disappeared. Book 1 may not fit the best, but you still have Korra struggling to learn airbending, the most spiritual of the four bending styles, and a revolt from non-benders, the least spiritually-attuned people in the world.

How far into the depths of this site did you have to go to find this thread lol

It showed up in the "related threads" bar. So, to answer your question, very little.

Torresp wrote:
I'll admit though, Book 1 was just an X-Men rip-off. Anti-Bending Sentiment? That's so much like anti-mutant sentiment.

No, it wasn't. Amon and the Equalists had a valid point of contention, in that bending was arguably a main cause of conflict in the Avatar World and especially that benders had an advantage in society, with jobs specifically available for benders and unavailable for nonbenders. The anti-mutant sentiment revolved around xenophobia. The two are not at all similar.

Torresp wrote:
I'll admit though, Book 1 was just an X-Men rip-off. Anti-Bending Sentiment? That's so much like anti-mutant sentiment.

No, it wasn't. Amon and the Equalists had a valid point of contention, in that bending was arguably a main cause of conflict in the Avatar World and especially that benders had an advantage in society, with jobs specifically available for benders and unavailable for nonbenders. The anti-mutant sentiment revolved around xenophobia. The two are not at all similar.

Torresp wrote:
I'll admit though, Book 1 was just an X-Men rip-off. Anti-Bending Sentiment? That's so much like anti-mutant sentiment.

No, it wasn't. Amon and the Equalists had a valid point of contention, in that bending was arguably a main cause of conflict in the Avatar World and especially that benders had an advantage in society, with jobs specifically available for benders and unavailable for nonbenders. The anti-mutant sentiment revolved around xenophobia. The two are not at all similar.

I did always think that the Anti-Mutant People were right about registration, though. What's so horrible about the notion that, if you can blow things up with your mind, you should probably be in some kind of database?

I wouldn't say that Bending is a cause of strife any more than I would say planes are. They're tools.

Torresp wrote:
I'll admit though, Book 1 was just an X-Men rip-off. Anti-Bending Sentiment? That's so much like anti-mutant sentiment.

No, it wasn't. Amon and the Equalists had a valid point of contention, in that bending was arguably a main cause of conflict in the Avatar World and especially that benders had an advantage in society, with jobs specifically available for benders and unavailable for nonbenders. The anti-mutant sentiment revolved around xenophobia. The two are not at all similar.

I did always think that the Anti-Mutant People were right about registration, though. What's so horrible about the notion that, if you can blow things up with your mind, you should probably be in some kind of database?

I wouldn't say that Bending is a cause of strife any more than I would say planes are. They're tools.

What was so horrible? The fact that you take away the freedoms and liberties, not to mention it's the equivalent of racial profiling. And it's the fact that you generalize on the acts of one superpowered individual. That's the same mistake equalists, particularly Hiroshi Sato, made regarding benders. Have you read the Civil War Storyline? It was pro-registration vs anti-registration, and guess what? Anti-registration won. And second, the anti-mutant people created SENTINELS, whose purpose is to hunt down and kill, I repeat, KILL mutants, and if you're familiar with the Days of Future Past storyline, you know how terrible that went. Anti-Mutant creators + Sentinels with the purpose to hunt down and kill mutants = Mutant Genocide

And second, the anti-mutant people created SENTINELS, whose purpose is to hunt down and kill, I repeat, KILL mutants, and if you're familiar with the Days of Future Past storyline, you know how terrible that went. Anti-Mutant creators + Sentinels with the purpose to hunt down and kill mutants = Mutant Genocide

I didn't say that the Sentinels were a good idea, I said the Mutant Registration was. It's possible for bad people to have good ideas, you know.

But all X-Men writers that I am aware of deliberately ignore this nuance & evoke the Slippery Slope Fallacy, asserting that mutant registration MUST lead to genocide. Sorry, X-Men writers, but that's not how the world works. The goal of registering superpowers need not necessarily be to kill all of the superpowered people.

As Water Spout pointed out, Legend of Korra actually addressed that the Equalists had some valid points. No, you shouldn't generalize an entire group based on some of its adherents--that extends even to the Equalists & the Anti-Mutant People. Just because Hiroshi & Senator Kelly stooped to murder, that doesn't mean that anyone who agrees with any of their points is guilty by association.

Have you read the Civil War Storyline? It was pro-registration vs anti-registration, and guess what? Anti-registration won.

Argument from consequence. As I established earlier, the authors portray mutant registration as A Bad Thing, so of course they're going to have it defeated. But do they address all of the little problems, like how if you bumped into Kid Cyclops & knocked off his glasses, he could destroy half of the block? Probably not, because it's easier to just ignore it when your villain has a point, & instead say that they're always wrong because they do bad things.

And it's the fact that you generalize on the acts of one superpowered individual.

No, I'm not "generalizing" anything, I'm not saying that all mutants should be in prison or even that all mutants are dangerous, I'm saying that there is a very real public safety issue. The X-Men franchise is littered with examples of mutants, even well-intentioned mutants, becoming a danger to themselves & others because they can't control their powers or someone else finds a way to use those powers against people. This would be a lot less of an issue if mutants with dangerous powers were registered.

Remember, in the 2nd X-Men movie, when Colonel Striker brainwashed Xavier to kill all of the mutants, & then Magneto did the same thing, but to non-mutants? Okay, now imagine if there was some database that the government could look into to find out that their citizens would be safe if they just put on metal hats.

So many lives could be saved by that measure. And in case you didn't notice there, that includes MUTANTS. Mutants can also be effectively protected by such a program. Another way it could help is that, if we know you have a mutation, we can make special accommodations to allow you to learn to control your power in a safe environment.

Why does that last one sound familiar? Oh yeah, because that's what Xavier is doing. Nobody complains about "violations of civil liberties" there, & he's literally reading minds.

What was so horrible? The fact that you take away the freedoms and liberties,

Not just from registering. There are so many things that you have to register with someone for. Owning a weapon, getting a license or ID, going to school, even having a NAME.

not to mention it's the equivalent of racial profiling.

Here's the thing: Black people can't blow you up with their thoughts. Gay people can't blow you up with their thoughts. Any minority group that X-Men has been used as a metaphor for can't blow you up with their thoughts. The ability to blow you up with their thoughts changes the issue. We regulate knives & guns while many mutants are packing things much more dangerous than that. When it's a public safety issue, it becomes government responsibility to do SOMETHING about it, though of course they have to balance it with the safety & privacy of the mutants themselves, which is why a public database probably isn't a good idea. But certainly, it should be a crime to use something like laser vision or telepathy without having it registered.

I feel the creators connected Amon to the other books because they weren't as together with Book 1 is because it helps build Korra's character. And it confirmed her worst fear, which is something the Avatar I feel should face. Aang faced his fears. So should Korra.

And second, the anti-mutant people created SENTINELS, whose purpose is to hunt down and kill, I repeat, KILL mutants, and if you're familiar with the Days of Future Past storyline, you know how terrible that went. Anti-Mutant creators + Sentinels with the purpose to hunt down and kill mutants = Mutant Genocide

I didn't say that the Sentinels were a good idea, I said the Mutant Registration was. It's possible for bad people to have good ideas, you know.

But all X-Men writers that I am aware of deliberately ignore this nuance & evoke the Slippery Slope Fallacy, asserting that mutant registration MUST lead to genocide. Sorry, X-Men writers, but that's not how the world works. The goal of registering superpowers need not necessarily be to kill all of the superpowered people.

As Water Spout pointed out, Legend of Korra actually addressed that the Equalists had some valid points. No, you shouldn't generalize an entire group based on some of its adherents--that extends even to the Equalists & the Anti-Mutant People. Just because Hiroshi & Senator Kelly stooped to murder, that doesn't mean that anyone who agrees with any of their points is guilty by association.

Have you read the Civil War Storyline? It was pro-registration vs anti-registration, and guess what? Anti-registration won.

Argument from consequence. As I established earlier, the authors portray mutant registration as A Bad Thing, so of course they're going to have it defeated. But do they address all of the little problems, like how if you bumped into Kid Cyclops & knocked off his glasses, he could destroy half of the block? Probably not, because it's easier to just ignore it when your villain has a point, & instead say that they're always wrong because they do bad things.

And it's the fact that you generalize on the acts of one superpowered individual.

No, I'm not "generalizing" anything, I'm not saying that all mutants should be in prison or even that all mutants are dangerous, I'm saying that there is a very real public safety issue. The X-Men franchise is littered with examples of mutants, even well-intentioned mutants, becoming a danger to themselves & others because they can't control their powers or someone else finds a way to use those powers against people. This would be a lot less of an issue if mutants with dangerous powers were registered.

Remember, in the 2nd X-Men movie, when Colonel Striker brainwashed Xavier to kill all of the mutants, & then Magneto did the same thing, but to non-mutants? Okay, now imagine if there was some database that the government could look into to find out that their citizens would be safe if they just put on metal hats.

So many lives could be saved by that measure. And in case you didn't notice there, that includes MUTANTS. Mutants can also be effectively protected by such a program. Another way it could help is that, if we know you have a mutation, we can make special accommodations to allow you to learn to control your power in a safe environment.

Why does that last one sound familiar? Oh yeah, because that's what Xavier is doing. Nobody complains about "violations of civil liberties" there, & he's literally reading minds.

What was so horrible? The fact that you take away the freedoms and liberties,

Not just from registering. There are so many things that you have to register with someone for. Owning a weapon, getting a license or ID, going to school, even having a NAME.

not to mention it's the equivalent of racial profiling.

Here's the thing: Black people can't blow you up with their thoughts. Gay people can't blow you up with their thoughts. Any minority group that X-Men has been used as a metaphor for can't blow you up with their thoughts. The ability to blow you up with their thoughts changes the issue. We regulate knives & guns while many mutants are packing things much more dangerous than that. When it's a public safety issue, it becomes government responsibility to do SOMETHING about it, though of course they have to balance it with the safety & privacy of the mutants themselves, which is why a public database probably isn't a good idea. But certainly, it should be a crime to use something like laser vision or telepathy without having it registered.

Ok, well then if we think about what happened in Book one, the problems Mutants face would also be an issue with Benders in the Avatar World. Clearly, the Equalists were addressing the wrong problem with benders. The issue of public safety or the issue of dangerous powers, which also applies to Benders, as they too are superpowered individuals. That's a much bigger problem than the idea of Benders oppressing non-benders. If anything wouldn't you say a better way to have addressed the issue with Benders would be to have them register their abilities.

I don't really know that there ISN'T some kind of Bending Registry. Bending is a lot simpler though, there are only 4 elements, & it is culturally acceptable, even encouraged. It is very rare to encounter someone whose Bending status is a secret. The only examples I can think of are:

Neo Bahamut wrote:
I don't really know that there ISN'T some kind of Bending Registry. Bending is a lot simpler though, there are only 4 elements, & it is culturally acceptable, even encouraged. It is very rare to encounter someone whose Bending status is a secret. The only examples I can think of are:

Haru, since he lived in a colony which made Earthbending illegal.

Amon, since he assumed a fake identity & wanted to eradicate Bending.

But then keep in mind, while throughout history, things that were not accepted then do become accepted now. However, it can also happen in reverse. It's sad, but it happens.

But the idea of Benders misusing their powers was the main Issue Book 1 was trying to address. Like you said, mutants can be dangerous when they misuse their powers, but benders can also be dangerous if they misuse their powers. One person can only bend one element, but can do almost many applications with it,

Yeah, I see the analogy that you are trying to draw, but it's a moot point, because there is no "concealed carry" in the Avatar universe. If you're a Bender, pretty much everyone in your neighborhood knows exactly what your powers are.

In a hypothetical society where there IS a problem of Benders hiding their powers, that might be different, but the other thing is there's a whole lot less that can go wrong with Bending. If Xavier loses control, he can literally blow up the heads of everyone around him. If Zuko loses control, we just need to call the fire department. Since there are only 4 elements, all with relatively well-known capabilities, we can have some back-up plans. Sucks for the people in that house, but we don't have a million potentially dangerous, wildly unpredictable scenarios to worry about.

Torresp wrote:
I'll admit though, Book 1 was just an X-Men rip-off. Anti-Bending Sentiment? That's so much like anti-mutant sentiment.

No, it wasn't. Amon and the Equalists had a valid point of contention, in that bending was arguably a main cause of conflict in the Avatar World and especially that benders had an advantage in society, with jobs specifically available for benders and unavailable for nonbenders. The anti-mutant sentiment revolved around xenophobia. The two are not at all similar.

You see it your way, I see it mine, to each his own.

Why do you always do that? When someone argues with your point, you automatically go to the defenses and say "That's how I view it, don't argue with me"

If you put your thoughts on somewhere public, prepare for people to disagree.

Anyways, no, I don't think they ever had the intent to lift things from the X-Men. Mostly because civil conflict is a centries old story that anyone can use.

Non-Benders feel that benders cause all the world's wars and should be stopped. Which in many ways, is kind of a good point. The hundred year war was caused by benders, so was the Water Tribe civil war.

EDIT:

After reading Water Spout's and Neo's replies, they pretty much explained it better than I did.

Also, they don't have to read Civil War or Days of Future Past, really.

Neo Bahamut wrote:
Yeah, I see the analogy that you are trying to draw, but it's a moot point, because there is no "concealed carry" in the Avatar universe. If you're a Bender, pretty much everyone in your neighborhood knows exactly what your powers are.

In a hypothetical society where there IS a problem of Benders hiding their powers, that might be different, but the other thing is there's a whole lot less that can go wrong with Bending. If Xavier loses control, he can literally blow up the heads of everyone around him. If Zuko loses control, we just need to call the fire department. Since there are only 4 elements, all with relatively well-known capabilities, we can have some back-up plans. Sucks for the people in that house, but we don't have a million potentially dangerous, wildly unpredictable scenarios to worry about.

A lot less? There's PLENTY that can go wrong with Bending. For example, Firebenders who might accidentally discover the ability to blow things up with their minds, what if they lose control of that ability? Or like how Zaheer can just bend the Air our of people's lungs? What about bloodbending? A waterbender can go insane after using it, and lose control. Basically, even if one person can only bend one element, you can do so many things with one element. Even Sokka says anything you think is impossible can happen with bending, and it has. The kind of bending the Red Lotus had is QUITE an unpredictable scenario in the sense that no one expected them to have such uncommon abilities. It's not how many unpredictable or dangerous scenarios you should worry about in this case, it's HOW MUCH of a risk you should worry about in the Avatar World.

Also, you don't know if a person who has firebending or waterbending is only capable of what you think is common--no one does. Even Jeong Jeong emphasizes how dangerous and unpredictable firebending is. To think that you know exactly what a person's capabilities are gives off a false sense of security.

You're trying to force a conclusion that doesn't fit. Combustionbending is too rare to be of a major concern & even if it was, having Firebenders registered wouldn't get you any closer to figuring out which Firebenders have Combustionbending. Bloodbending is something you have to specifically learn, & no it doesn't make you crazy. Oh, & that part where it's already illegal. People in general were actually quite aware of the Red Lotsus's powers, even knowing how to counter P'Li's.

I would also imagine losing control with bending to be of low risk itself; as Neo stated: there are 4 elements. In the avatarverse all benders fall in to one of these 4 categories - there are always people to learn from in terms of application and control.

Referring to the mutants, their abilities are so diverse, the odds of encountering another individual, with your same gift, to learn from is very slim.

Merry Midge wrote:
I would also imagine losing control with bending to be of low risk itself; as Neo stated: there are 4 elements. In the avatarverse all benders fall in to one of these 4 categories - there are always people to learn from in terms of application and control.

Referring to the mutants, their abilities are so diverse, the odds of encountering another individual, with your same gift, to learn from is very slim.

But the capabilities within each bending element are in themselves diverse. You can do so many things with waterbending or Airbending for example.

But the capabilities within each bending element are in themselves diverse. You can do so many things with waterbending or Airbending for example.

But there is a field of known abilities within them already - many that are even common such as icebending or metalbending (from what we've seen in LOK). People with waterbending are able to control things related to water - this already gives an idea of what they may be capable of with their bending, even if you were to go beyond what we already know they can bend. Not to mention it all stems from the element it self (i.e. you can't bloodbend until you learn how to waterbend).

It's nothing like with mutants, where a single person can have multiple abilities that aren't even associated with one another.

Neo pretty much summed everything up by saying you're grasping at straws. No matter which angle you see it, no matter how much you look at it, the potential of mutants in the Marvel universe does not come remotely close to the potential of benders in the Avatar World.

A single waterbender has potential to do so many things that have yet to be discovered, yes, but as regular benders, they are limited. A single waterbender cannot conjure a tsunami unless they are the Avatar. A mutant potentially can. A single waterbender cannot influence the weather to devastating magnitudes. A mutant potentially can.

From a storytelling perspective, the difference between mutants in the X-Men comics and benders in the A:TLA/LoK franchise is that the former are depicted as the "freaks" of the universe. They're the victims of the prejudice of people who don't understand them, which is why the X-Men stories typically draw inspiration from racism (Genosha), homophobia (Bryan Singer's movies), etc. On the other hand, Book 1: Air's main conflict draws inspiration from communist movements in the lat-19th/early-20th Century. It's a story about a revolt from an underprivileged class (non-benders, labor class) demanding a privileged class (benders, Bourgeois) be brought to a more equal playing field. Just sub out equality of wealth for equality of bending.

In other words, the Equalists' anti-bending sentiment is quite the opposite of anti-mutant sentiment.

Book 1 parallels a little bit with ATLA. In ATLA, Aang knows a single element and has to figure out how to learn the other three. And in Book 1 of LoK, Korra has to figure out how to unlock airbending. So I think that's part of reason why Book 1 is important - it shows us Korra's journey to unlocking all the elements and becoming a fully realized avatar much like Aang did in his own journey. Not to mention it sets up the characters and gives us background information on them. Korra has an important arc in the first book that sets her up for the other books as well. Book 1 is the first time we see Korra facing her fears and accepting her vulnerability which is something she continues to struggle with throughout the series and seems to be the biggest demon she needs to defeat. I just don't think the series could have started out with Book 2 without Book 1 occurring for more reasons than just getting to know the characters. I mean part of the appeal of the ATLA was watching Aang learn how to bend each new element and that's kind of what we got to see Korra experience with Book 1. And yeah, Amon was referenced in Book 3, when Korra was hallucinating and even in Book 4.

Winterlotus90 wrote:Book 1 parallels a little bit with ATLA. In ATLA, Aang knows a single element and has to figure out how to learn the other three. And in Book 1 of LoK, Korra has to figure out how to unlock airbending. So I think that's part of reason why Book 1 is important - it shows us Korra's journey to unlocking all the elements and becoming a fully realized avatar much like Aang did in his own journey. Not to mention it sets up the characters and gives us background information on them. Korra has an important arc in the first book that sets her up for the other books as well. Book 1 is the first time we see Korra facing her fears and accepting her vulnerability which is something she continues to struggle with throughout the series and seems to be the biggest demon she needs to defeat. I just don't think the series could have started out with Book 2 without Book 1 occurring for more reasons than just getting to know the characters. I mean part of the appeal of the ATLA was watching Aang learn how to bend each new element and that's kind of what we got to see Korra experience with Book 1. And yeah, Amon was referenced in Book 3, when Korra was hallucinating and even in Book 4.

The parallel's wasn't lost to anybody P:

But my problem is, story wise, Korra reverted back to her old ways (even worse) in Book 2.

Well true, she did. But I guess character arcs don't always have to be going forward and improving - ie. they can get worse before getting better. I mean I thought the same thing, don't get me wrong, like, I hated how Korra's attitude was and was wondering why she was so negative all of a sudden. But I also saw parts of her that were more mature and improved than the previous season, so I definitely saw growth from the first book even though Korra was worse in other ways. Korra was worse in Book 2 I suppose because we see her dealing with more stresses than she had in Book1. But in the end she came out better :P

I don't think anyone liked how Korra acted, lol. I just wish she wasn't so difficult but with that said, Book 2 felt like where her real arc began with Book 1 leaving little impact on her personality wise. Her journey was more cleaner Book 2 onwards P:

Winterlotus90 wrote:Book 1 parallels a little bit with ATLA. In ATLA, Aang knows a single element and has to figure out how to learn the other three. And in Book 1 of LoK, Korra has to figure out how to unlock airbending. So I think that's part of reason why Book 1 is important - it shows us Korra's journey to unlocking all the elements and becoming a fully realized avatar much like Aang did in his own journey. Not to mention it sets up the characters and gives us background information on them. Korra has an important arc in the first book that sets her up for the other books as well. Book 1 is the first time we see Korra facing her fears and accepting her vulnerability which is something she continues to struggle with throughout the series and seems to be the biggest demon she needs to defeat. I just don't think the series could have started out with Book 2 without Book 1 occurring for more reasons than just getting to know the characters. I mean part of the appeal of the ATLA was watching Aang learn how to bend each new element and that's kind of what we got to see Korra experience with Book 1. And yeah, Amon was referenced in Book 3, when Korra was hallucinating and even in Book 4.

The parallel's wasn't lost to anybody P:

But my problem is, story wise, Korra reverted back to her old ways (even worse) in Book 2.

I would not be the least bit surprised. A lot of heroes in western animation are like that. They learn a lesson, but then they forget. To name a few who are like that: Ben Tennyson, Rex Salazar from Generator Rex, Spider Man from Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors, Iron Man, etc. Even Korra isn't immune to that trend. Learn her lesson, forget about it in the next episode or next season. Anyways, the one thing Korra struggles with is learning what it means to be a hero. She's so used to winning, which is why she doesn't really feel like she's learned anything. Let's face it, we don't learn anything when we win, do we?. When Korra suffered her biggest fail, she could either let it define her forever, or she can learn from it. The big takeaway from it was that beating herself up was just doing a favor for Kuvira and every Bad Guy she's been up against.

Book one was a good story on its own, but combine it with the rest of the show its overall legacy and influence is minute. Yes, we did have some of the more innovative technology like mechs play a major role later on. However, world building outlook the events of season 1 had little to no affect at all on the other seasons. Yes, Raiko a non bender was elected president, but his election seems like a patchwork solution at best for the producers to come up with to wrap up the Equalist arc. Amon is dead and has been ousted from power but the Equalist movement did bring up interesting and challenging social conflicts that are just solved quickly and wrapped up in essentially a pretty bow and forgotten about. There's no mention of any left over equalist cells still operating. We dont get anything that shows the URN resolving the valid issues between benders and non benders, except introduce a few relatively powerful and influential non bending chracters in season 2 (Varrick, and Raiko). The only thing that in anyway solves some issues is Harmonic Convergence which makes alot of nonbenders into benders all of a sudden.

Basically season one's biggest influence on the rest of the series is its establishment of "cut off the head of the snake and the body will die" policy it takes when it comes to dealing with the main antagonists. The Equalists dissapated after Ammon is revealed as a liar and killed off, the water tribe civil war is ended after Unalaq is killed, The earth Empire dissolves when Kuvira surrenders and is imprisoned. The only antagonistic group that doesn't abide by this is the Red Lotus.

Count Kibbles N Bits wrote:
Book one was a good story on its own, but combine it with the rest of the show its overall legacy and influence is minute. Yes, we did have some of the more innovative technology like mechs play a major role later on. However, world building outlook the events of season 1 had little to no affect at all on the other seasons. Yes, Raiko a non bender was elected president, but his election seems like a patchwork solution at best for the producers to come up with to wrap up the Equalist arc. Amon is dead and has been ousted from power but the Equalist movement did bring up interesting and challenging social conflicts that are just solved quickly and wrapped up in essentially a pretty bow and forgotten about. There's no mention of any left over equalist cells still operating. We dont get anything that shows the URN resolving the valid issues between benders and non benders, except introduce a few relatively powerful and influential non bending chracters in season 2 (Varrick, and Raiko). The only thing that in anyway solves some issues is Harmonic Convergence which makes alot of nonbenders into benders all of a sudden.

Basically season one's biggest influence on the rest of the series is its establishment of "cut off the head of the snake and the body will die" policy it takes when it comes to dealing with the main antagonists. The Equalists dissapated after Ammon is revealed as a liar and killed off, the water tribe civil war is ended after Unalaq is killed, The earth Empire dissolves when Kuvira surrenders and is imprisoned. The only antagonistic group that doesn't abide by this is the Red Lotus.

And don't forget that the Dark Spirits retreat because Vaatu has been defeated. The thing about the Red Lotus is that they're like HYDRA--cut off one head and another takes its place. I just don't understand why they can't reuse certain enemies as side villains. Besides, the red lotus makes a great parallel to HYDRA in the Marvel Universe. I'd be more satisfied if the Red Lotus appeared, just for a couple of short scenes, maybe two episodes with one short scene of them each.

While I basically agree with Neo's opinion in the Mutants vs Benders debate I'll go back to the original question and say that book one is slow and a little boring because it's setting the scene, portraying the world and introducing the characters -- it's not rare at all for many tv shows to fall in this mistake where the first couple of episodes seem a little dry.

Hmmm, I'd disagree. I don't think I could claim that it really ties in with the later books besides for introductions, but I still think it was a great story to tell. Even without setting up a master plot, it presented a fascinating conflict with the Equalists (who had a really good point), Amon (who was epic and mysterious), and tied it all together with pro-bending (which was just fun in general). And I don't know if you'd really want to rush into a huge worldly conflict after just being thrown into Republic City. Fans needed time to adjust. Just because it mainly focused on setting the scene doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining (especially with that soundtrack, haha). Clearly this is all just my opinion, but there it stands.